Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, New York state enacted a temporary emergency paid sick leave law for workers subject to a “mandatory or precautionary order of quarantine or isolation”.

As the national response to COVID-19 intensifies, states and localities across the country have announced school closures.  Employers should review their state and local laws to determine whether such closings may trigger an employee’s right to take job-protected, or paid leave.

State and Local Leave Allowances for School Closings

Many states have laws that require employers to offer employees paid sick leave. In each state, there are different qualifying reasons that entitle employees to take this leave.  What employers may not realize, is that some states require that employees be allowed to use paid sick leave during certain school closing scenarios.  In at least seven states, school closings caused by a public health emergency are a qualifying reason to take paid sick leave.  Those states are Arizona, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Effective January 1, 2020, organ donors in California are entitled to an additional 30 business days of unpaid leave.  AB 1223 extends the maximum leave time available to employees who participate in an organ donation program.  This law applies to private employers with 15 or more employees.

The Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016 (the “Act”), which implements the District of Columbia’s new Paid Family Leave (“PFL”) program, kicks-in for employees on July 1, 2020.  However, employers must post a PFL notice in the workplace no later than February 1, 2020.

Earlier this year, Dallas passed an ordinance requiring all private employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. The Dallas ordinance follows similar laws passed recently in both Austin and San Antonio.

While a district court held the Austin ordinance unconstitutional and preempted its enactment pending a forthcoming Texas Supreme Court decision, the Dallas Ordinance is still set to go into effect August 1, 2019 for businesses with more than five employees (while those with five or fewer have until August 1, 2021 to comply).

In a statement issued last week, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, along with state house and senate leadership, announced that lawmakers had agreed to implement a three-month delay to the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) law, which Hunton Andrews Kurth, LLP previously reported about here. In the joint statement, the leaders explained:

To ensure that businesses have adequate time to implement the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program, the House, Senate, and Administration have agreed to adopt a three-month delay to the start of the required contributions to the program. We will also adopt technical changes to clarify program design. We look forward to the successful implementation of this program this fall.

Paid Family and Medical Leave, or PFML, is fast approaching and Massachusetts employers need to begin preparing for the upcoming July 1, 2019 effective date.

Not only do employers need to understand their obligations, but there are affirmative actions they must take now – which is well in advance of the January 1, 2021 commencement of the benefits taking effect.